graham121 Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 (edited) April 1980 saw Operation Eagle Claw and the abortive attempt to stage a rescue in the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The USS Coral Sea was on hand and was to provide air support with the F-4N;'s of VMfA-323 and VMFA-531 providing top cover. This was also the first time that air superiority on a US carrier had been provied by two US Marine Squadrons. To help in identification, the F-4's, A-6's and A-7's aboard the Coral Sea wore coloured stripes on their starboard (corrected, originally wrote port) wings, in the case of VMFA-323 they were Red and Black. The US Navy was also transitioning from AIM-9G Sidewinders to AIM-9L's and as such there was a mixture of both types aboard the Coral Sea and it was not uncommon for 2 of each model 'winder to be carried on each of the inner wing pylons. A pair of AIM-7F's fill the rear fuselage wells with a 600 Gallon centreline fuel tank completing the load out. Outer wing pylons were not fitted as they only added drag. In summary it is the Academy F-4B kit with Eagle Strike decals, Eduard interior, exterior P/E plus their resin and P/E bang seats, Hypersonic A/C inlet vents and slotted stabs, Master metal Pitots, Hasegawa weapons kit AIM-9's and various other bits of detailing from wire, plastic card and anything else that suited. Finish is in overall Light Gull Grey custom mixed using Tamiya Acrylics, various washes and oils and lightening/darkening for weathering, the walkways and the yellow diamonds on brown stripes were masked and painted and the metalwork for the exhausts and around the rear fuselage and stabs is aluminium foil coloured by boiling in water with eggshells. Thanks for looking. Edited July 18, 2015 by graham121 38 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Very nice fella ... Nice paint job indeed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom726 Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Blimey, that's a good job!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Beautiful! BuNo 150480 did not have the RHAW antenna underneath the IR seeker though. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham121 Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 Beautiful! BuNo 150480 did not have the RHAW antenna underneath the IR seeker though. Jens F###ark (and thanks) for pointing that out...... You know the number of times I looked at photos of that bird and I still didn't pick up on that . Oh well, still a bit of (re) work to do as he retrieves the correct IR seeker from the spares box and works out a plan of attack!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antoine Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Very well done! The mixed AIM-9 load is interesting, did you found any pictures about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpc7676 Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Outstanding job, very well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 F###ark (and thanks) for pointing that out...... You know the number of times I looked at photos of that bird and I still didn't pick up on that . Oh well, still a bit of (re) work to do as he retrieves the correct IR seeker from the spares box and works out a plan of attack!! I think it would be easier to remove the RHAW lump and repaint. No need to remove the entire IR seeker. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 One of the best, if not the most convincing, all grey Navy birds I've ever seen! Respect! Kind regards, Joachim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 PHAAAAANTASTIC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan-o Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Very very nice indeed!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riever49 Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 I absolutely love the model, and am particularly impressed with the weathering on the bare metal of the tail. However.... In your text you say the identification stripes were on the PORT wing? Your model has them on the starboard wing. Which is correct? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 One of the best F-4's I've ever seen built. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vtecjack Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Nice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdonnell Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Hi,Graham 121 - Well,what can I say?"A Phabulous Phantom indeed!"Inspirational modelling.All the best,Paul. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham121 Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 I think it would be easier to remove the RHAW lump and repaint. No need to remove the entire IR seeker. Jens That thought came to me too just after I replied so I will try that and hopefully do not take out a canopy or anything else whilst I do it. I absolutely love the model, and am particularly impressed with the weathering on the bare metal of the tail. However.... In your text you say the identification stripes were on the PORT wing? Your model has them on the starboard wing. Which is correct? Text corrected to reflect the stripes being on the 'other' port wing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Stunning phanthom , superb job on the scheme and fantastic finish... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikesmodels Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Lovely F4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 That is awesome! Brilliant work on all aspects, lovely photography 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Looks great, the grey can appear boring but in this case there are enough colourful markings to turn it into a good scheme. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Oh my goodness, that is just delicious! Phabulous! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ c Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Simply; Superb, fantastic Marines bird, love it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 I like that very much indeed! Great looking F-4! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janremco Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Very nice Phantom and storythat goes with this airframe. Great how you did the foil on the rear of the aircraft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham121 Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 Very well done! The mixed AIM-9 load is interesting, did you found any pictures about it? Hi Antonine - yes, there are a number of pictures on the net ... I found them by googling 'F-4n vmfa-323' and selecting images ( most of them are found on other forums so I won't direct link here ). Hope that helps 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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